Ayomi Amindoni, thejakartapost.com 30 Oct 15;
In her first year of leadership, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister (KKP) Susi Pudjiastuti has ordered the sinking of 106 foreign boats that were fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said on Friday that the sinking of the illegal boats is proof that the government is serious about eradicating illegal fishing and boosting the country’s sea security.
Susi admitted that lack of law enforcement in fisheries was one of Indonesia's problems for investors, adding that she was committed to cracking down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF).
"IUUF is a global crime, not merely illegal fishing but also slavery, human trafficking, animal smuggling and drugs," she said.
KKP director general of Marine and Fisheries Resources Asep Burhanuddin said the ministry would sink six more boats tomorrow.
"The sea and air police along with the Navy have sunk more than a hundred boats in the first year,” Asep said in a presentation at the KKP office in Jakarta.
In the presentation that was attended by the minister, Asep said that the minister planned to tighten punishments for illegal fishing.
Asep requested the minister equip the supervisor boat with weapons to protect Indonesian marine resources.
"The important thing is that we save our marine resources," he added.
The KKP Directorate General's data show that the illegal fishing boats that were sunk in the first year of Susi's leadership were from the Philippines (34), Vietnam (33), Thailand (21), Malaysia (6), Papua New Guinea (2) and China (1). (dan)(+)
Govt to launch Global Fishing Watch
Antara 30 Oct 15;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will launch a campaign, called Global Fishing Watch, in 2016 to monitor the movement of fishing boats in the countrys waters.
"Once the Global Fishing Watch kicks in, no fishing boat will be able to hide," Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Susi Pudjiastuti said at a ceremony to celebrate the ministrys performance over the past one year.
She said the system was being put in place in cooperation with a number of companies, including Google, the most used search engine in the cyber world.
The device that will help in monitoring boats movements was the result of her recent visit to the US, she said, adding that common people would be later also able to monitor the movement of fishing boats in the Indonesian waters.
The Association of Indonesian Traditional Fishermen (KNTI) had recently stated that Indonesia needs to stop issuing permits for foreign ships to operate in the countrys waters to end the practice of poaching of national fish resource.
"Indonesia need not be afraid of protests or harassment by other countries for such an action," KNTI head of legal development, Marthin Hadiwinata, said here on Tuesday.
He said it was possible to ban foreign fishing ships from operating in the country and such a move would also possibly be supported by international regimes based on three conditions.
The conditions are that fish resource in the country are finite, , the availability of national resources supports for utilization of national sea resources sustainably and fairly as well as the availability of national regulations that support a ban on fishing by foreign boats with regard to achieving sustainable fishery management.
Marthin said the challenge was to improve and update the data on national fishery conditions to assure that fish availability data is accurate and fishing permits could be allocated after a moratorium.
He said a friendly and responsible fishery policy with regard to licensing, manpower, procurement, capital and supervision was also needed to support mobilization of national fishing fleets to operate in the national waters.
"Revise and harmonize national laws such as the fishery law and the presidential regulation on negative investment list that still leaves an opportunity for foreign parties to makes it legally possible for them to obtain a license to catch fish in the countrys waters and in the exclusive economic zone using ships weighing more than 100 GT," he said.
Without the revision, he said, a fishing license for foreign ships could potentially be procured illicitly.(*)
Indonesia to Fight Illegal Fishing With New Google App
Tri Listyarini Jakarta Globe 30 Oct 15;
Jakarta. The Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry, in cooperation with Global Fishing Watch, will launch an application called “Google Global Fishing Watch” to help Indonesia ward off poachers.
The GGFW will allow the country to thoroughly monitor its waters as reportedly no vessels can escape the high-tech program's radar, so there is no way for fish poachers to evade authorities.
“The illegal, unreported and unregulated [IUU] fishing practices are categorized as global crimes. To put an end to these, we have to use everything we have to make sure that we can track all the fishing activities in our waters,” Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said in Jakarta on Friday.
In addition to monitoring the fishing activities in Indonesian waters, the GGFW application will be monitoring fishing operations around the globe — allowing all fishery-related stakeholders to keep track.
Global Fishing Watch — a partnership of SkyTruth, Oceana and Google — says that Indonesia would be the first country in the world that cooperates with the partnership to analyze national fisheries activities and make the data available to the public by using this app.
“This cooperation will help Indonesia end illegal fishing operations, so the country can protect both the fish and the local fishermen,” said Jacqueline Savitz, Oceana's vice president.
The administration of President Joko Widodo has put illegal fishing how on its priority list, leading to regular seizures of foreign vessels caught trying to poach in Indonesian waters.
